Saturday, 30th April …..

Hadn’t realized the number of disabled people we have on board; I don’t mean just the frail and infirm, I’m talking about those who have clear disabilities which impact on their lives, long-term. There are at least two couples who are profoundly deaf. The two men sat in the Patisserie Bar this morning talking an animatedly with their hands. I suppose their gestures become more emphatic if they want to ‘shout’ but I was embarrassed they might think I was eavesdropping so I avoided watching them.

There are several people with vision problems. One tall gentleman with a white stick walks everywhere with his hand on his wife’s shoulder, others are even more independent although as I have mentioned before, the ship is not particularly friendly to people who are not young and nimble.

There are two middle-aged men in wheelchairs accompanied by their male carers. We see them involved in every activity, on- shore and in the pool and ‘walking’ the decks early in the morning and late at night. I don’t know the situation but imagine the two carers are employed to do that job rather than having taken on the responsibility as family members. As one of the disabled men is aboriginal, his carer is certainly not a family member. Whatever the situation, the two carers are doing a marvellous job, well beyond the call of duty. There is a third man in a similar situation but he seems to be supported by his family. One man pushes his wife around in a wheelchair. It seems she has had a stroke; he folds her hands on her lap and takes her to dinner and the entertainment and so on,

Sadly, there are two young people in wheelchairs. One is severely disabled and we see her being fed with a spoon by her grandmother (we think). The other girl is much more independent and can get around with a walking frame. She is very vivacious and always cheerful, but severely disabled. There is a young man, late teens or early twenties accompanied by his parents. I thought at first he had severe ADHD but now I think his problems are more deep-seated. He talks loudly in company but also mutters to himself.

Marilyn has had chats with a woman whose husband is in the final stages of cancer. This trip might be their last major outing. At least three other women have clearly had chemotherapy and who knows how many others are in the same boat but aren’t showing the outward signs.

I have a chance to watch people because Marilyn has involved herself in Goofy Golf. Her team came second this morning and she missed out on a ‘gold’ medal by just one point. The other day she was in the ‘Sink it and Drink it’ game. If she managed to hit one golf ball with another, she would be given a glass of champagne. No problem! She hit the target cleanly with her second ball and won the champagne.

We were in Bali yesterday. It was the first time the ship has visited this particular port of Tanah Ampo in Padang Bay. Previously, they had gone to Benoa but it was a long transit by tender to the wharf. In Tanah Ampo, we are able to anchor much closer in and save considerable time in the tenders. Unfortunately, when the first shore party arrived to set up for disembarkation, they found the landing area pretty dodgy. The tenders drop us off on to a pontoon and we climb up on to the jetty via a ramp. Three problems: the pontoon was too small for a tender-load of passengers to stand together, the ramp was unsafe and the slope between the pontoon and the jetty was too steep. Disembarkation was put on hold until a gang of engineers with reinforcing bars and welding equipment had a go at repairing the ramp. They couldn’t do anything about the slope because that was determined by the level of the tide and, in the end, they could only allow 1 or 2 passengers on the ramp at one time.

I’ve already mentioned that our passengers are not the most nimble of creatures and some needed significant assistance to get up the ramp and, later, to get down it again safely. Say each tender brought in 60 passengers, only 12 could fit on the pontoon and it takes between 15 and 60 seconds to climb the ramp. So, at best each tender-load would take 15 minutes to get on to the jetty. Mmmm! 1800 passengers = 30 tenders = 7.5 hours. My math. Is a bit dodgy but I believe it took 5 hours to offload all those who wanted to go ashore and, when the last of the tours arrived back at about 4, it took 2 and a half hours to get them back on board. It was a stinking hot day and the ship’s crew did a remarkable job in the circumstances. However, it is all grist to the mill for the whingers and they were in full song last night and this morning.


We thought we might take one of the conducted tours but it was full so, in the end, we took the shuttle in to the local town, Candidasa, to check it out. There are several resorts but it’s not too touristy – a few shops selling clothing and souvenirs, a sprinkling of vendors selling sunglasses, batik stuff and watches, but not as pushy as you might find in Phuket or Bangkok. We bought a couple of nice shirts and sun-dresses and had a local beer at a nice hotel before we made our way back to the ship for a late lunch.